OUTSPOKEN former Norton legislator Tembo Mliswa has been left fuming after watching a telling sermon delivered by Vice President Constantino Chiwenga that all but warned his principal, President Emmerson Mnangagwa not to seek extension of his second and final term.
The sermon which was taken from the Book of Isaiah and delivered at a Roman Catholic Church in Murewa over the weekend, focused on the Biblical King Hezekiah who begged God for more time as King having been given a prophecy that his reign and life were set to end.
God heard his prayers and granted him 15 more years, but those were spent in his own dungeons as revolts and uprisings eventually saw him get deposed and arrested.
This fell into the faces of activists campaigning for Constitutional Amendment Bill No.3 which seeks to extend Mnangagwa's stay beyond the mandated two terms, stop citizens from voting for their president and give more authority to legislators.
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"Mwari haana kumbomutorera makore aakange amupa, asi Mambo vakawapadze varimujeri," said Chiwenga in what has been described as a brave moment of public defiance.
(God did not take the 15 years he added to his life, but the King spent those 15 years in jail having been arrested).
A livid Mliswa interpreted the sermon as a direct attack on Mnangagwa, called for Chiwenga's resignation and claimed the former army commander was being used by the opposition.
"This is as brazen an attack on the President (Emmerson Mnangagwa) as one can ever give and coming from his own Deputy its shocking," said Mliswa on X.
"For one so close to the President to resort to this is diplomatically gross and strategically poor.
"The Vice-President is now seriously endangering his standing by pandering to the whims of social media and the opposition by indulging in content creation."
Chiwenga has reportedly resisted Mnangagwa's manoeuvres and insists he should step down at the end of his second and final term in 2028.
He has however been constantly ignored and bullied off, raising tensions within the ruling Zanu PF which is already divided over how to deal with Mnangagwa's efforts which are strongly backed by the party's rich but not so mighty.
These are the individuals said to be oiling loud voices being heard in support of CAB3, and amendment that has taken up loads of airplay on national radio and TV, been presented as uniting and become the focal point of political campaigns it seeks to reduce.
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Added Mliswa: "What he is contesting is a party decision and he can't continue within an entity whose thinking and direction he doesn't accept!
"Resigning, not metaphors, is the only redemptive path for him. He should resign and then canvass for the support of the opposition, which he is clearly pandering to, against his own party.
"For the ruling party he is becoming a liability publicly questioning party resolutions and feeding the public mentality with treasonous thoughts."
